


By your side

by Akemichan



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Blood, F/F, Fem Keith (Voltron), Fem Shiro (Voltron), Femslash, Genderbending, Inspired by Song of a Lioness, Menstruation, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:27:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26666674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akemichan/pseuds/Akemichan
Summary: Keith hid her gender to become a knight.But an accident forced her to reveal her identity to the only person she trusted - which was, with irony, the Queen of Thieves.For the FemSheith Exchange!
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 30
Collections: Femsheith Exchange 2020





	By your side

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AniDragon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AniDragon/gifts).



> AniDragon's is my receipt for the FemSheith Exchange and she asked for a Song of a Lioness!AU, if possible.  
> Unfortunately, I wasn't able to read the books in time (I wish to! They look so interesting!), and I didn't have the time to write down a longer plot.  
> But by the summaries, there was a particular moment that I'd like to represent in the Sheith version, so here it is.  
> Not really a Song of a Lioness AU, but I hope you'll like it nevertheless!

“You’re slow.”

It wasn’t a sneak remark.

Shiro hadn’t been anything but kind to Keith since they’d first met, and she surely wasn’t unkind now, even if she looked at Keith from few meters higher on the hill, riding her mare.

“You’re just too good,” Keith replied, and she was honest about it.

Despite her talent as riding, she hadn’t been able to beat Shiro yet. Their playful following happened at least once a week (and until now no one seemed to suspect they’re fake, and Keith didn’t want to catch the great thief Black Lioness for real) and Keith never managed to sustain Shiro’s race, even if Shiro herself stated many times Keith will, sooner or later.

“Not as much.”

With four jumps, Shiro was next to Keith, her mare pawed nervously. Keith tightened her grip in her reins.

“Are you okay?” Shiro asked. “You looked a little pale.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not.”

Keith looked at Shiro’s concerned expression, the fondness clear in her grey eyes. She knew she could trust Shiro – she was her first friend since the first time she arrived in the city of Daibazaal as a knight-in-the-making, and she was the one teaching her how to fight properly so she could defend herself from bullies at the knight academy.

And she was a woman, on top of that.

But revealing Shiro her secret? That seemed too much.

“Please,” Shiro said, “let me help you.”

With a sudden movement, Keith grabbed the purple cravat that covers Shiro's neck and leaned nearer.

“Promise me,” she pleaded. “Promise me you won’t tell anyone about this.”

The surprise in Shiro’s mouth disappeared immediately, turned in an affectionate smile.

“Of course,” she murmurs. “I’ll never do something to hurt you.”

Keith’s muscles relaxed, but she didn’t let the cravat go.

“I’m a girl.” Saying that aloud made it a lot more real, but at the same time, it was a relief not holding that secret for herself anymore. “And I have my period,” she added.

Shiro's expression was stone. He looked focused on her thoughts, yet the stretching silence made Keith worry.

“Are you in pain?”

“Yes,” Keith answered. “I usually eat some herbs the week before but this time they’re earlier and-”

Her babbling was interrupted by Shiro taking back her reins.

“Come with me,” and it wasn’t an order but an invitation, yet Keith didn’t have any reason to refute it. The pain had increased since he'd started riding towards Shiro and the only thing she wanted to do at the moment was lie down and forget everything.

Of course, Shiro lent her to her small house, her private lair. Keith has been there before when Shiro was taught her to fight, but this time it looked more personal.

It was because Shiro knew her secret now. Because Keith wasn’t there to train as a knight, to become stronger, but was there for a more personal problem.

Shiro didn’t seem to mind, and she sprung in action with everything, at the point that Keith let Shiro dragging her along, while Shiro took care of their horses and started preparing a fire to warm up a buckle of water.

Keith’s light armor and the pants she wore below were soaked in blood, so she was relieved when she had the chance to change and clean herself. Shiro even gave her a new _Sphagnum_ to soak the blood. The clothes Shiro gave her were big, still, it was pleasant to wear something comfortable. The pain was becoming almost unbearable now, but being clean was enough to let her relax a little.

Shiro’s lair had three rooms, other than the small stable: Keith reached her in the main room of the house, where there were a small kitchen and the bed. Shiro was there, mashing something in a cup. From the door, Keith observed her back, the way her long hair, not anymore caught in the ponytail, fell and dance at her movements.

She’d taken off her “Black Lioness black and purple costume” but she still has the right arm, the transparent, full of white magic that substituted her lost arm. It glowed in the dark of the room, and Keith realized that was the reason she usually hid it even as Black Lioness – having a magic arm wasn’t something most people would accept. Shiro used to laugh at it, saying it was a pretty convenient cover – no one would think a cripple like the strange woman that lived at the edge of the forest was the Black Lioness. Keith had already learned to recognize Shiro’s sadness behind her dark humor, and she’s not buying it.

“Oh,” Shiro noticed her presence. “How are you feeling?”

“Better, thank you.”

“Still in pain?”

“Yes.”

Shiro nodded and focused again on the herbs she was mixing.

Since she was spotted, Keith moved and sat down at the edge of the bed. She didn’t talk, not until Shiro reached for her and gave her a small bowl with a green liquid inside.

“An old family recipe,” she said, sitting down on the old chair in front of Keith. “It should lower your pain a little.”

The taste was bitter, but Keith drank a long sip from it. He did use to buy something like that for the pain, but it was the first time she had someone preparing it for her.

“Are you angry?” she asked, after another sip.

“About what?” Shiro sounded genuinely surprised.

“Because I lied to you. About myself.”

Shiro smiled sweetly. “Well, it’s pretty clear why you did it. And, to be honest, knowing your potential I think it would be a waste for the Kingdom to not have you as a knight.”

Another sip, to hide her embarrassment. No one in the world believed in her as much as Shiro, and she felt so grateful and incredulous about it.

“Besides, I tried the same thing some years ago.”

The cup almost slipped from Keith’s hands, while she bulged her eyes in surprise.

“What?”

Shiro laughed. “My twin brother, Kuro…” For a second, sadness obscured her eyes. “Well, he was supposed to become a knight, but he didn’t care about it. He wanted to be a magician. So we switched place, and he went oversea while I pretended to be him at the academy.”

“What happened then?” Keith couldn’t refrain to ask.

“Those two.” Shiro squeezed her breasts, that weren’t constricted anymore in the Black Lioness’ costume. This time, Keith managed to shut up and not saying she didn’t mind those large boobs at all, while Shiro continued. “They kicked me out after finding my secret, so to prove myself I joined an expedition by myself and…”

Without noticing, she lifted her right arms and at that moment she seemed to remember something painful. She grinned, then she let the arm disappeared in thin air.

“It’s not an interesting story after all,” she said, with a shrug.

_It interests me_ , Keith would have said. But she didn’t: as much as she wanted to ask more, about Shiro’s past, about her brother, about the way she’d lost her arm and became friend with Princess Allura, the same that’d given her the magic arm, she wouldn’t ask.

She wanted Shiro to trust her enough for telling her when she’d be ready. In the meantime, Keith would remain at her side no matter what. Even if it would cost her the knightship.

“Thank you,” she only said, as she finished her bowl.

“You can stay here for today.” Shiro stood up and took the empty bowl. “We can say you spend all night trying to catch the Black Lioness.”

As she winked at her, Keith smiled. She lied down on the old bed, and the sheets and pillows were comfortable nevertheless. Shiro closed the windows so Keith could rest better.

“Can you stay with me?” Keith asked.

“Do you want me to?”

Keith nodded and made space for her in the bed. It was small, so when Shiro lied down next to her, their bodies attached one to another. To be comfortable, Shiro hugged Keith and took her even nearer, and Keith, happy and embarrassed, closed her eyes and leaned more against Shiro’s chest.

“When I’ll be knight, I’ll ask Prince Lotor the permission to marry you,” Keith murmured to herself, as she started falling in the obvious of sleeping, too unaware to keep her voice low.

Shiro’s hug tightened a little. “You’re so cute.”

And, in the midst of sleepness, Keith would swear to have felt Shiro kissing her hair and adding, “I don't care if you're a girl, Keith. I love you.”


End file.
